TNW Sites

Blurb teams up with Amazon for self-published photo books

Blurb, the indie publishing platform that lets photographers self-publish their books, has joined forces with Amazon, the retail giant, to sell and distribute books produced and designed by Blurb authors. This opens up a great opportunity for photographers to propel their work into the public eye.

To facilitate that, Blurb is introducing BookWright, a new design tool that includes, among other things, free ISBN numbers.

In contrast, an ISBN number purchased through Bowker, the U.S. ISBN agency, generally costs $125. With this new program, anyone who creates a book using BookWright, Blurb’s Adobe InDesign plug-in, or Amazon distribution can get a free ISBN.

BookWright, which is free, is the only tool that lets authors design and publish both print and ebooks from the same file at the same time.

While Amazon already publishes independent titles, the photography concentration is new. According to Eileen Gittins, Blurb CEO, the photo publisher will get the book an ISBN and print it on demand—no minimum print run required. For print runs over 300, Blurb will now warehouse the books for six months. For 35 to 50 cents per unit, depending on the size of the book, Blurb will both store the books and fulfill the order.

The Blurb to Amazon program is free for an introductory period. Thereafter, the setup fee will be $29.99 per book. Amazon distribution launched in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia, with more European distribution planned by the end of the year.

The difference between selling via Blurb’s online shop is that Amazon carries a referral fee of 15 percent of the product price.